Category: event

It’s that time of year again, it’s a month filled with fun rides and events, it’s Bike Month!! May is going to be a GREAT month for biking in Eugene and Springfield. It’s a good time for fair-weather cyclists to roll those steads out of the garage and for everyone who rides bikes to celebrate together.

A special thanks to the organizers and supporters of May is Bike Month. Along with WeBikeEugene volunteers and community members these partners help make this month of events come together and happen!

Plant trees by bike Saturday December 2nd and Saturday December 16th with Friends of Trees! We are also looking for volunteers that have bike trailers and would like to help haul trees and tools by bike. Gloves, tools, and refreshments provided!

The last “Breakfast at the Bike Bridges”, put on by the City of Eugene on the last Friday of every month from May-September, has a special twist for the last month, “Bruschetta at the Bike Bridges” and it’s an after work event rather than a morning one.

Come out to the Autzen Bridge (supposedly now the Frohnmayer Bridge, whatevs) for the final BBB of the season and enjoy some Bruschetta as well as free bike safety checks from Blue Heron Bike Shop, bike registration with the Eugene Police Department, and talk bikes, Vision Zero, and how to grow great tomatoes. Remember don’t go by in the morning for bagels and coffee! It’s from 4:30pm to 6:00pm this Friday (September 29th).

Eugene Mayor, Lucy Vinis, has made an official proclamation that “May is Bike Month”. She points to the economic, environmental and health benefits that bikes bring to Eugene and its residents. She also notes the amazing bike community that Eugene has developed over the decades.

We’re excited to be part of bringing all the events together into this month-long event and are excited to have it growing each year.

Join us as Mayor Vinis shares the official proclamation and starts off the May is Bike Month celebration at the Kick-off Party and Bike Share Open House on Monday, May 1st at the Broadway Commerce Center (44 W Broadway) from 4-6pm.

An open house for Eugene Bike Share will be held in conjunction with the kick off of “May is Bike Month” next Monday, May 1st from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Broadway Commerce Center (44 W Broadway).

Participants will be able to interact with the bike share vendor and will be able to discuss possible bike share station locations. The open house will also preview the program for May is Bike Month and showcase events happening this summer for people who walk and bike, including Eugene Sunday Streets.

On May 1st, Social Bicycles, the vendor for Eugene Bike Share, will officially launch online content to crowdsource station locations and announce updates for the launch of the Eugene system scheduled for fall 2017. Social Bicycles is currently operating in 18 locations in North America including the recently launched BIKETOWN system in Portland, Oregon.

Beyond highlighting possible bike share station locations there will be free pizza, valet bike parking (in Kesey Square), and a raffle for a free bike share annual pass!Join the Facebook event and spread the word.
For more information on Eugene Bike Share see www.eugene-or.gov/bikeshare

It’s about that time of year again, time to ride even more! May is going to be a GREAT month for biking in Eugene and Springfield. It’s a good time for fair-weather cyclists to roll those steads out of the garage and for everyone who rides bikes to celebrate together. With over 30 bike rides and events happening during Bike Month it’s the perfect time to try out something new! Usually ride for recreation? Try out commuting! Casual cyclist who only rides for errands? Try a longer recreational ride! Want to get your kids riding more? We’ve got events for you! Come ride with us in May.

A special thanks to the organizers and supporters of May is Bike Month. Along with WeBikeEugene volunteers and community members these partners help make this month of events come together and happen!

Bike Month Highlights

For a calendar of Bike Month of the 30+ events click here. More events added as submissions come in. See how many you can do! Scroll below for complete descriptions of each event.

For the last several years, the City of Eugene along with our partner agencies and many members of the public have been working to develop the Eugene 2035 Transportation System Plan (TSP). The draft Eugene 2035 TSP provides a 20-year blueprint for the City of Eugene’s transportation system and serves as the transportation element of the Envision Eugene comprehensive plan. The TSP was developed based on extensive stakeholder input, analyses of our existing transportation system and relevant adopted plans and coordination with planning processes that are underway.

A final draft of the plan is now available and can be found at www.EugeneTSP.org. We greatly appreciate the time that many people have contributed to this plan as well as people’s patience with the length of this planning process.

We are now in the final phase of the Eugene 2035 TSP adoption process which includes two public hearings before both the City Council and Lane County Board of Commissioners, and potential adoption by both the City Council and Board of County Commissioners. A City Council work session on the TSP was held on February 27, 2017. The first joint public hearing was held on March 6, 2017. The webcasts from both the work session and public hearing can be found at this website: http://eugene.ompnetwork.org.

The 2nd joint public hearing will take place on Monday, April 17 at 5:30 PM in Harris Hall located at 125 East 8th Avenue.

To submit testimony for consideration by the City Council and Board of Commissioners, you may testify at the public hearing or email your testimony by noon on April 17 to City of Eugene Transportation Planning Manager Rob Inerfeld at rob.inerfeld@ci.eugene.or.us.

Do your hands tingle, knees hurt, feet burn and shoulders ache on long rides? Do you wish you got more power out of your pedal strokes on big hills? Do you want to go longer without needing to take breaks? If the answer to any of these questions is a resounding “Yes!”, then you should consider getting your bicycle “fit” by an expert. At this clinic, Jay Loew, Licensed Body Geometry Fit Expert with Collins Cycle Shop, will talk about the benefits of getting your bicycle best fit to your body. He’ll go over how a fit is different than a sizing, the reasons for getting a fit, the latest technology, how a fit can help with common aches and pains, and ways a fit can improve your performance. This clinic is open to everyone and free of charge. Please come and bring a friend!

A nearly 7-year planning process on Eugene’s transportation system is nearing an end, and one of the last opportunities for community input is coming up next week.

On Monday March 6, the Eugene City Council and the Lane County Board of Commissioners will conduct a joint hearing on the draft “2035 Transportation System Plan” (TSP) which lays out the policies, priorities, and projects for Eugene’s transportation system over the next 20 years.

The TSP lays the groundwork and acts as a guide for future transportation decision making by creating the vision and laying out the specific projects that will make up the transportation system moving forward. The TSP states that transportation “decisions will be made within the overall context of the City’s land use plans, commitments to address climate recovery, and support for economic vitality.”

The plan includes the idea of “Triple Bottom Line” decision-making, that is, making transportation decisions as a way for the city to improve social equity, economic development, and environmental problems, such as climate change.

The plan specifically highlights that the “Eugene City Council adopted a ClimateRecovery Ordinance that codified a Council goal of achieving a 50 percent citywide reduction of fossil fuel use by 2030” and rolls that goal into the TSP as well.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, the TSP incorporates the Eugene Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan, which was “accepted” by City Council in 2012. Part of that incorporation includes a specific goal that by 2035 the city will triple the percentage of trips made on foot, by bicycle, and by transit from 2014 levels.

In other words the plan has some lofty goals and a great vision but a few questions remain, including: does it go far enough, how will projects be prioritized, and where will the funding for bold visions come from?

Let’s consider the piece incorporated from the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan regarding tripling of active transportation trips. In 2015, 7.6% of Eugene residents got to work by bike; 7.6% walked; and 4% travelled by bus (LCOG). If we are to hit the target contained in the TSP to triple the percentage of non-auto trips, we will need some 23% of residents biking, 23% walking, and 12% riding the bus to work just 18 years from now.

Cities that have this level of biking include Copenhagen, Denmark (30%) and Davis, California (23%) (Wiki).We would have to achieve mass transit ridership rates closer to LA (11%) or Portland (12%) (Wiki).We would need a walking environment closer to Cambridge, Massachusetts (23%), or Berkeley, California (16%) (Wiki).

Does this plan have what it takes to get us to these kind of numbers? A good spot to look is the plan’s project list and the funding that is projected for those projects. Under the “Roadway, Multimodal, Transit, and Rail Projects to be Completed Within 20 Years” we see a total projection of $406.6 million worth of projects. Under the “Pedestrian and Bicycle Projects to be Completed Within 20 Years” we see $71.7 million worth of projects. That is 18% of the total budget for mode shares that we are hoping to get to 46% by 2035.

Compare the 130 miles of bicycle and pedestrian projects at $71.7 million to the .95 mile “Randy Papé Beltline Highway Facility” at $85 million (the largest project on the roadway list) and we can see where some of the problems might come as we try to reach these lofty but important goals.

Where will the prioritization of these projects come from and more importantly where will the funding come from? Sometimes it’s easier for a city to work, lobby, and find funding for one major bridge project than it is for it to find funding for 239 separate small projects that may add up to a complete network but also takes a lot more political work to make happen (and provides a much less interesting photo shoot).

What work will city leaders and staff do to make sure that these active transportation projects will get funded and built in time to reach these goals? Right now we don’t have the kind of funding needed to get these type of projects done. Will we in the future?

If we were to build out the TSP bicycle and pedestrian project list in 20 years, we would need to be awarded some $3.6 million dollars for these projects every single year between 2018 and 2038. With some transportation funding already programmed out to 2023, and no major shifts to increase active transportation funding sources, it’s unclear how we’ll make any real strides until we see major changes in the funding structure of our transportation system.

So what can be done to improve this plan and make it so we actually reach the goals laid out? Do we have the enough bold active transportation projects in the plan? Do we have a good enough prioritization plan so that we know the right projects will get built first? Do we have a plan for finding the right kind of funding to match our goals of increasing walking and biking rates?

Monday’s public hearing will be a good time to state support for the goals and projects laid out in the TSP, but it’s also a good time to ask some of those questions and any others that you might have around how the plan will be implemented. With the work that has gone into the many pieces of this plan and its 20-year horizon this is a crucial point to make any comments before its final adoption.

Via Friends of Trees:If you are pumped on biking and want to bring your bike out to a planting event – we would love that! Bicycling crews transport all of the trees, tools and people to each planting site during neighborhood planting events. Folks with bike trailers and racks are encouraged, though anyone with a bike is welcome to plant with us!

Friends of Trees provides trained planting guidance as well as a thoughtful planting route that won’t take you up steep hills, along busy highways, nor terribly long distances with your heavy loads of trees and tools. After every planting, we invite you to warm up at our potluck lunch with tasty soups and other homemade treats.

Last year we had a bike team at every planting and this year we plan on having two! I am here to invite you all, to bask in the awesomeness of pedal-powered tree-planting with Friends of Trees! With our first bike event taking place one month from now in November, I wanted to make sure you all got our schedule of events sooner than later.
Trailers, bungees, panniers, oh my! Bike planters always are an awesome scene, come planting morning.
If you have friends who may want to join you by bike this season – please invite them and send them the sign-up link! We are hoping to have more planting teams this season than ever before. The more bikes and trailers that show up, the better!

Please reach out to us if you have any questions about biking at our events, or volunteering with Friends of Trees in general. You may reach us at Eugenetrees@FriendsofTrees.org or 541-632-3683.